What do Better All the Time, the Fermi Paradox and baby universes have in common? Matt at Dancing In the Minefield has the fertile mind to contemplate the answer.

-Linkathon

Posted by Kathy at 08:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Where will you find some of the most mind-expanding writing on the Web? Why, of course, in one of the ugliest, most awkward web sites I have ever seen. But spend some time with Max Tegamark's Multiverse FAQ (as recommended by Accelerating Future, where you'll also find a definitive answer to Stephen's question about First Contact occurring via the galactic internet.)

However, before you visit Tegamark's site, I should issue the following...

Warning: May cause dizziness, wooziness, and other profoundly uncomfortable feelings that for some reason you want to experience.

Here's a little sample:

Q: Doesn't the multiverse theory completely trivialize existence? It puts the burden for individual responsibility on the shoulders of the universe. Why do anything? If you decide to be a lazy slug, that just means that your particle clone elsewhere will be the one who wins the Nobel prize. And vice versa. Similar destructive arguments can be applied to morality. If the theory is correct, "wrongdoing" doesn't exist. Ultimately I've realized one almost has to believe in fantasies, in theories that only could be possible but probably aren't. Otherwise, one cannot make meaningful decisions to advance their own survival or to aid anyone else.

A: I'm not convinced that the existence of parallel universes implies that I should dramatically alter my behavior. Yes, some near-clones of me indeed win the Nobel prize, but only a very small fraction of them! As in the gas station question above, it's important to keep track of the statistics, since even if everything conceivable happens somewhere, really freak events happen rarely, in an exponentially small fraction of all parallel universes. It's these statistics that make existence complex and interesting rather than trivial.

Interesting. This is the second picture like this that I've posted in the past few weeks. Must be a phase I'm going through.

Posted by Phil Bowermaster at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)